Winter fuel payments, free bus passes, eye tests, prescriptions and televisions licences could all face the axe after the next election, after Downing Street today said the Prime Minister’s pledge to protect them only lasted until the 2015.

Asked whether pensioner benefits would be protected into the 2015/16 tax year, which begins a month before the proposed date of the election of 7 May 2015, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: ‘We have done an awful lot to help pensioners, but clearly, speaking generally, there are some difficult decisions to be made.’

She added: ‘What (the Prime Minister) set out in terms of benefits for pensioners that was set out in the Coalition Agreement for this Parliament, he absolutely stands by that. But broader decisions around the spending review have yet to be made.’

Pensioner problem: Downing Street refused to say whether universal benefits such as winter fuel payments and free bus passes would be protected after the 2015 election

The winter fuel payment delivers between £100 and £300 once a year in time for Winter to anyone claiming the state pension. The level depends on age and other benefits being claimed.

The payments have become more of a necessity in recent years as a result of spiralling energy bills, which have gone up by 177 per cent in the last decade.

Despite the 2010 Coalition Agreement specifically protecting universal pensioner benefits, David Cameron has faced pressure to ditch the promise he made to ring fence the payments during the 2010 general election campaign.

In recent months Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has suggested wealthier pensioners could be asked to ‘sacrifice’ some of their benefits to save money.

And last year, a close ally of the Prime Minister, Conservative MP Nick Boles, also called for the winding up of universal benefits to better off pensioners at the next election.

In a speech to the independent think tank the Resolution Foundation in July last year, Mr Boles questioned why wealthy celebrities like Sir Paul McCartney and Lord Sugar should receive winter fuel payments.

The proposals provoked an angry response from pensioners groups who attacked the plans to mean test the universal benefits as unworkable.

Ros Altmann, of the over-50s organisation Saga, said: “If you start means testing pensioner benefits, many of those who need help will not get it, as they won’t claim, it will cost huge sums in administration and you will be penalising those who have saved.

‘The reason we have all these pensioner benefits is because our state pension is so low for so many people.

Nearly half of pensioners are already eligible for means testing, although many won’t claim and around half have incomes of less than £10,000 a year.’

‘Means testing is complex, inefficient and costly in terms of administration and penalises those who have saved, whereas universal benefits for pensioners ensure all those who need them do receive what they should.’

Last month, Mr Cameron repeated his promise to make no changes to universal pensioner benefits, saying: ‘I made a very clear promise at the election that we would keep the winter fuel payments alongside the other pensioner benefits as they were, and that's a promise I'm keeping.’

Downing Street’s refusal to confirm whether the benefits will be protected into the next parliament comes as the Chancellor George Osborne is seeks cuts totalling £10bn for the financial year 2015/16. He is currently locked in negotiations with Cabinet colleagues over where the axe will fall.

With health, schools and overseas aid protected in the spending review, Mr Osborne is believed to be coming under intense pressure to demand that the bulk of the savings come from the welfare bill, in order to avoid further cuts to areas like defence, criminal justice, the police, local government and transport.

Mr Osborne is due to announce spending settlements for 2015/16 by the end of June 2013.